Cry-Baby

I wasn't looking forward to this. I was expecting a Grease style chick-flick, with lots of 50's nostalgia, that basically idolised Johnny Depp. And to be honest, that's what I got... but also so much more.

Really, I should have known better. Some of Depp's best work is when he is working with an Auteur: a filmmaker with their own distinct style who writes and directs their own projects. Pre-Pirates Depp was all about this. He made great films with Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man), Terry Gilliam (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) and Tim Burton on a few projects back when he was still good. I didn't realize Cry-Baby was one of these films until John Waters name popped up in the opening credits. I'd never seen a John Waters film before, but I knew of him. I knew he'd made films such as Hairspray and Pink Flamingos - films that I was never really interested in seeing. I knew he considers himself a master of the grotesque (I think one of his films involves someone eating poo). And having heard him in interviews I knew he was actually quite an interesting and funny guy. Well now, I have to say, I'm kinda curious to see his other films because honestly, this film was hep.

Okay, yes, the film's plot is essentially Grease: a square and a Teddy Boy, or 'Drape,' as I've never before heard them referred to, fall for each other and must overcome obstacles through the power of music to be together. Essentially Grease, right? John Waters version of the T-Birds though are an eclectic bunch of absolute freaks, including the ever-wirey Iggy Pop, a pregnant Rikki Lake, pornstar Traci Lords and a nice lady referred to as Hatchet-face who eccentuates her unfortunate facial features with just one of her eyebrows badly drawn in a big transvestite-style arch, the other just drawn badly where it should be. I'm not sure the kind of Teddy Boy gangs that squares were at contending with in the 50s were anything like the weirdos depicted in this film, but these are the kind of characters that populate John Waters other films and I think he wants to show the world how accepting and welcoming these outcasted members of society can be. So although, maybe not accurate, Waters' mutated 50's Greesers actually really work. We understand why society is mistrusting of them, but grow to love all their ugly little eccentricities. Conversely, the squares are painted pretty broadly as holier-than-thou hypocrites and you do enjoy rooting against them.

The other way this sets itself apart from Grease is in just how funny it is. I wasn't expecting a comedy and was so happy to find that Johnny Depp's single tear on the poster was actually a joke. And a good joke too. In fact the hit rate for jokes in this film is remarkably high, and it should be: Waters is throwing a joke at the screen practically every thirty seconds to the point where the film at times feels like parody - the French kissing montage in particular felt very over the top. But I'd argue it's not quite parody, instead it's something closer to Evil Dead 2 in that both films pay loving, tongue-in-cheek homage to the films that came from an era before, and in both films you are sometimes left wondering whether the jokes are always intentional, or whether you are just laughing at the hokey filmmaking. Even Johnny Depp, like Bruce Campbell, is perfectly cast as the kind of screen star from a different era - his performance at times feels hilariously mocking of Marlon Brando in Streetcar named Desire, or James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. The film is consistently funny and John Waters has a particular talent for visual comedy.

My only real complaint is that towards the end the jokes thinned a little and the film became more and more a musical. Early on, I was actually digging the little musical interludes; one number in a jail cell was particularly entertaining, and I definitely wouldn't want to lose Cry Baby singing on the roof of a speeding car whilst playing chicken, but by the end I was left feeling that the film was maybe just one or two songs too heavy.

Other minor gripes: I was upset to see Mrs Vernon-Williams (very charmingly played by Polly Bergen) forced into the Squares car for the final game of chicken: she clearly had the spirit of a Drape. I was also mildly concerned about Rikki Lake's newborn. Also, are we really expected to believe that Johnny Depp shares his DNA with so many unattractive people? And why did he have to ruin his beautiful face with that tear tattoo - a tattoo famously reserved only for those that have killed someone in prison, thus causing me to wonder, was there a deleted scene where Cry-Baby murders someone?

4 Single tear drops out of 5